Rail-joint.



No. 7!B,83I. Patented Dec. 23, I902.

S. 0 DUUGHERTY.

BAIL JOINT.

(Application filed Mar. 12, 1902.]

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Unrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN OLIVER DOUGHERTY, OF TORONTO, OHIO.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPEGIFIGATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 716,831, dated December 23, 1902.

Application filed March 12, 1902. gerial No. 97,986. (lilo model.) I

To all whom, it nasty concern/.-

DOUGHERTY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Toronto, in the county of Jefierson and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has relation to rail-joints, and has for its object to provide means for securely connecting the meeting ends of rails together withoutthe use of bolts and nuts. The main purpose of the invention is to accomplish this object by the use of a fastening which is simple of construction, secure, and adapted to firmly unite the parts, so as to prevent displacement of the rail ends or parts of the fastening.

The invention consists of certain features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a top plan view of a rail-joint embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a crosssection on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. l: is a perspective view of the channeled fish-plate or chair.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numerals 1 and 2 represent the meeting ends of adjoining rails, and 2 the cross-ties. The ends of the rails are joined or connected by a longitudinally-channeled chair or fish-plate 3, which is formed with a base 4:, vertical sides 5, which bear against opposite sides of the web 6 of the rails and 4 form seats for the heads of the rails to rest space being allowed between the rail ends, as usual, to admit of the necessary expansion and contraction. The chair or fish-plate is therefore adapted to prevent lateral or sidewise shifting of the rails out of alinement, as will be readily understood.

The base 4 is formed with transverse openings 7 to receive the ties 2 and to admit of the rails resting. directly upon the ties, but at its ends and between said openings is solid to form an effective support for the rails. By this construction the walls 8 of the transverse openings provide shoulders to abut against the sides of the ties to prevent the fish-plate from shifting longitudinally. The outer edges of the flanges 6 are notched at 9 for the reception of spikes 10, which enter the ties and hold the plate from lateral or sidewise movement-that is, from shifting in a direction transversely of the track and longitudinally of the ties. In the flanges 6 of the fish-plate are also formed openings 11, which are in alinement with notches 12, formed in the flanges of the rails, and through these openings and notches pass spikes 13, which are driven into the ties and supplement the action of the shoulders 8 and spikes 10 to prevent movement of the rails and fish-plate in either direction. As shown, the openings 11 are of such size as to allow the heads 14 of the spikes 13 to pass down through them and to bear squarely against the flanges of the rails, thus securely spiking the rails to the ties. Preferably the heads 14 are made of such length or depth as to project above the flanges 6 to permit of their ready withdrawal when required, and said heads are thus adapted to also perform the additional function of holding the fish-plate against endwise movement.

It will be seen from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings, that by constructing the fish-plate with openings to admit the ties, so that the rails may rest thereon, and providing a solid bottom 4 at other points, and particularly beneath the ends of the rails at the joint, a solid support for the ends of the rails is furnished, so that downward deflection of the rail ends under the hammering of the car-wheels is prevented, while at the same time the parts are given a firmer connection with the ties; also,that the manner of engaging the spikes 13 with the rails and fish-plate renders the fastening eminently firm and secure. An additional advantage is that the device is simple of construction, easily applied, and obviates the use of bolts and nuts and other insecure fastenings.

A special advantage of the construction of my improved rail-joint is that a broken rail at any point in the track may be removed by simply removing the spikes at ends of the broken parts and sliding in the connection and spiking it down again. In this way the broken parts of the railcan be reunited without taking the rail up.

Of course this joint is adapted for all tracks where T-rails are employed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is A rail-joint chair comprising a bottom portion having openings near its ends to receive cross-ties, upwardly and inwardly inclined flanges spaced apart to receive the Web of the rails and having spike-openings and spikenotches near their ends intersecting the said openings of the bottom portion, the spikeopenings passing through the angular spaces between the inclined flanges and the bottom and through the openings of the bottom and of a size to admit the heads of the spikes coming in direct contact with the flanges of the rails, and sides projected vertically from the inner edges of the inclined flanges, the several parts being integrally formed, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

STEPHEN OLIVER DOUGHERTY. [L 8.]

Witnesses:

P. A. GAVIN, J. O. MURTERT. 

